


that's the thing, you wake up

by pantalaimon



Category: Red Valley (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Road Trips, basically i just wanted them to hit the nail on the head before they even get to Red Valley, but mostly its chill, definitely not foreshadowing at all, just a casual conversation between friends, mentions of death/medical violence, spoilers through episode 5?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27021232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pantalaimon/pseuds/pantalaimon
Summary: "Okay look, imagine you’re in prison, right?”Warren sighed. “Okay, sure.”“You’re in prison, probably for murder or something-”“Whoa, hey, hey, why murder? Why can’t I be in prison for like… tax fraud or something?”
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	that's the thing, you wake up

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I've decided I'll only be writing fics for INCREDIBLY niche fandoms now. But seriously, if you haven't listened to Red Valley, please do, it's amazing.

After hours of driving, a 1998 Vauxhall Astra pulled over at a fish and chip shop on the side of the road. Gordon stepped out first, stretching his arms and shuddering when his neck popped. He looked over at Warren, who remained seated in the passenger’s side.

“You coming?” he asked.

Warren grimaced. “My body’s trying to decide if I’m more tired or more hungry.”

“Well, take into consideration the fact that I am starving.” Gordon shivered as he slammed his door shut. The further north they went, the colder the air was getting. He didn’t even bring a jacket, and cursed himself for being unprepared.

Warren exited the car with a groan, and together they hurried into the shop. Settling themselves in a cosy booth in the back, they ordered a steaming mountain of chips to share between them. 

“You sure you’re alright?” Gordon asked as he picked through the fresh pile of chips. “Morior Invictus isn’t giving you a headache, right, ‘cause I- I can turn it off if you want, there’s probably something else in the car we can play-”

Warren cut him off with a wave of the hand. “No, no. Honestly, the music isn’t that bad. I’m just…” he paused, trying to collect his thoughts. Hearing Aubrey Wood’s tapes had changed something in his mind, like there was a thought just under the surface, trying to make itself clear. “Just thinking about the tapes is all.”

Gordon nodded, pointing at him with a chip. “Loads to think about there, you’re right. Like what you said about the prisons. That’s actually fucking genius, and just a little bit scary.”

“Why’s it so scary?”

Gordons eyes went wide. “Why’s it so scary?? Think about it, man, serving two or three life sentences now, today, basically means you’ll be in prison until you die, right? Well, not if you’re a popsicle! You serve those sentences and you come out the other side. Okay look, imagine you’re in prison, right?”

Warren sighed. “Okay, sure.”

“You’re in prison, probably for murder or something-”

“Whoa, hey, hey, why murder? Why can’t I be in prison for like… tax fraud or something?”

Gordon rolled his eyes. “Tax fraud?? You think they’re gonna go through all the trouble of putting you in the freezer just because you committed tax fraud? No, no, no, the cryo prisons are gonna be for the worst of the worst, the kind of people they don’t want to have to _deal with_ while they’re in there. The murderers, the raging arsonists, that sort of thing.”

Warren nodded, going along with it. “Okay, so murder. Fine. I kill someone, I go in the freezer, I wake up in eighty years or whatever.”

Gordon leaned forward. “ _Exactly_ , Warren. You wake up. The world has aged eighty years, and you’re still the exact fucking same! For you, it’s like you killed someone last week!”

Warren paused, thinking this over. Eighty years in the future. Or several hundred years. Even just being under for ten years would be disconcerting. Who’s to say that humanity would even still be here in a few hundred years?

Seeing Warren’s brain work through it, Gordon nodded emphatically. “Hmm? Exactly! You don’t even get those eighty years to- to think, to feel bad about murdering some poor sod and become a better person or whatever!”

“Wait, wait, who’s to say these prisoners remember anything when they wake up? I mean, we heard what happened at the Teddy Bear’s Picnic. If an arm can melt off, a brain’s not going to be any fucking different.”

Gordon wiped his face with a napkin. “Well sure. That’s what’s happening now, or- or then, or whenever. I’m assuming they’ll get it a bit more figured out before the government starts paying for it. But until then, that’s a lot of test subjects who’ll get their brains turned into soup for the sake of science. Memory loss, personality changes maybe…”

Warren felt that memory nudge against his brain again. “They go into cryo sleep and wake up a completely different person.”

“I mean maybe, some of them. If their brains aren’t straight up liquefied- Warren? Are you alright?”

Warren’s mind was beginning to swim, and he felt a bit faint. That memory was turning into an itch at the back of his mind, and he was desperately trying to avoid scratching it. He put his head in his hands and scrubbed his face furiously. “Ugh. Yeah, just… I think I’m ready to keep moving.”

Gordon looked concerned, but stood up and gave him an awkward little pat on the back. “Sure, uh- of course. Listen, I got the tab today, alright.”

Warren nodded, his thoughts clearing a little bit. “Thanks.” 

A few minutes later, there was a screeching of tires, and a 1998 Vauxhall Astra peeled off into the growing darkness.


End file.
